Small and Simple Dinosaur Puzzle

Introduction: Small and Simple Dinosaur Puzzle

The file is intended to be cut by a laser and made from 3 ply 1/8 inch Baltic birch or 1/4 inch Maple plywood from Lowes.

The file cuts out an approximately 3 inch by 3 inch panel (3X3 for the 1/8 thick ply or 6X6 for the 1/4 thick ply) with 5 poke-out pieces that assemble into a T-REX dinosaur with stand.

I bring four or five of the pre-cut 3X3 panels with me wherever I go and hand them out (mostly in restaurants but anywhere I go) to parents with 'active' little kids. Its not a complicated puzzle to figure out, and it seems to keep an active imagination occupied for about 20 minutes to an hour while waiting for dinner to come to the table.

I cut these out at the Chandler Arizona Techshop ( TSChandler8861 ) using a Universal 60 watt laser.

Step 1: Dinosaur Puzzle Can Be Scaled for Thicker Plywood

If you are cutting 1/4 inch wood, use the 'Instructables Dinosaur for Quarter Inch Ply.SVG' and scale so the rectangle is 0.008 to 0.0010 smaller than the thickness of the wood.

If you are cutting 1/8 inch wood, then use the 'Instructables Dinosaur for Eighth Inch Ply.SVG' and scale the drawing so the rectangle is 0.008 to 0.010 smaller than the thickness of the wood.

Cut the panel

EXAMPLE:

The SVG file for 1/8 thick ply is currently sized so the slots are cut to 0.110. This is 0.010 smaller than the 0.120 thick Baltic birch wood I have been using.

Note: Each dinosaur piece is held into the panel with a few 0.020 inch breaks in the cut line. They are fairly easy to break loose but will hold the dinosaur pieces into the panel while its in storage.

The legs are interchangeable from side to side. It may be necessary to flip the stand over to insert the feet.

Just remember to cut the slots about 0.008 to 0.010 smaller than the thickness of the wood.

Re-scaling the panel larger than 1/4 inch will increase the size of the breaks in the cut line. This would make the puzzle pieces difficult to remove from a cut panel.